U.S. Soccer settles Relevent antitrust lawsuit

Relevent Sports has settled its antitrust lawsuit with the U.S. Soccer Federation on Wednesday, according to a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Combined with an earlier settlement with FIFA just over a year ago, the path for Relevent to hold foreign league matches in the U.S. and elsewhere is now clear.

The filing reads, "Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i), Plaintiff Relevent Sports, LLC voluntarily dismisses the above-captioned matter, with prejudice, as to Defendant United States Soccer Federation, Inc."

The term "with prejudice" means that Relevent is barred from refiling the same claim or lawsuit against the USSF in the future.

The suit alleged, in part, that the USSF conspired with FIFA to withhold its approval to hold foreign league matches in the U.S. and that this was done to give an advantage to Soccer United Marketing (SUM).

SUM is the marketing arm of MLS and a competitor of Relevent's in the area of promoting international soccer matches. There is now no legal impediment to such matches going forward.

In a statement to ESPN, a USSF spokesperson said, "We are pleased to put this matter behind us as we remain focused on growing the game and harnessing the momentum of U.S. Soccer ahead of next year's World Cup."

Jeffrey Kessler, the lead attorney for Relevent from the firm Winston & Strawn, would only confirm to ESPN that the case had been settled. Neither Kessler nor the USSF revealed the terms of the settlement.

MLS, which will likely face increased competition in light of the settlement, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit, first filed in 2019, came about after Relevent, controlled by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross, signed a commercial rights deal with Spain's LaLiga, and tried to host a league match involving Barcelona and Girona at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium. Such matches must be approved by the national federations of the league as well as that where the match will be played.

On that occasion, Relevent was denied sanctioning by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Relevent later tried to host an Ecuadorian league match between Barcelona and Guayaquil City, but the USSF refused to sanction the event.

The USSF stated that its reason for denying Relevent the approval to hold the match was due to a FIFA policy, adopted by its ruling council in 2018, that "emphasized the sporting principle that official league matches must be played within the territory of the respective member association."

The lawsuit was dismissed in July of 2021. Relevent alleged that the intent of the agreement was to "adhere to the FIFA Policy and to boycott leagues, clubs, and players that participate in unsanctioned games in the United States." Judge Valerie Caproni ruled that the USSF's adherence to FIFA policy, without additional factual allegations, wasn't enough to prove that the USSF entered into an unlawful agreement with FIFA to "restrict output."

But an appeals court overturned that ruling in May of 2023, stating that "Relevent plausibly alleges that the 2018 Policy reflects a contractual commitment of head-to-head competitors to restrict competition."

With the case headed to the Supreme Court, then-Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar filed a 23-page brief stating that the appellate court ruling should stand.

The USSF "did not act independently. Rather, it participated in a membership association that adopted a policy binding the association's members, and it invoked that policy as its stated rationale for denying approval of the proposed matches," the government wrote.

The government added the USSF "was not a randomly selected FIFA member, nor was it a passive or unknowing bystander to the adoption and enforcement of the 2018 policy."

When Relevent settled with FIFA last year, its filing stated that "FIFA agreed to a consideration of changes to existing FIFA policies with respect to playing official season games outside of a league's home territory."

To that end, FIFA announced last May 15 that it was forming a 10-15 member working group that "will consider a revised legal framework at FIFA level dealing with i) rules, procedures and processes for authorizing interclub football matches or competitions, and ii) criteria to be applied for authorizing such matches or competitions."

But Relevent kept the USSF as a defendant, with Kessler telling ESPN back in 2024 that if the two sides didn't settle, Relevent is "going to pursue these antitrust claims to their fullest extent."

Now, the coming months will determine the extent to which foreign leagues will cash in on holding league matches in the U.S.